196 PRINCIPLES OF GARDENING. [CH. VI- 



previously, had related that new apples ad infinitum 

 might be raised from kemjels ; and Bacon, whose 

 penetrating eye pierced the most dark recesses 

 of nature, had observed that " The compounding 

 and mixture of plants is not found out, which, never- 

 theless, if it be possible, is more at command than 

 that of living creatures ; wherefore, it were one 

 of the most noble experiments touching plants to 

 find this out ; for so you may have a great variety 

 of new plants and flowers yet unkno^ai. Grafting 

 doth it not : that mendeth the fruit, or doubleth the 

 flower, but it hath not the power to make a new 

 kind." My own observations, and those of others, 

 justify the following statements, as affording some 

 guide to the raiser of varieties. 



1. The seed-vessel is not altered in appearance by 

 impregnation from another plant ; therefore, no 

 hasty conclusion of failure is justified by that want 

 of change. 



2. The colour of the future seed, not of that first 

 hybridized, seems to be most influenced by the male 

 plant, if its seeds and flowers are darker than those 

 of the female. Mr. Knight found, that when the 

 pollen of a coloured blossomed pea was introduced 

 into a white one, the whole of the future seeds were 

 coloured. But when the pollen of a white blossom 

 was introduced to the stigma of a coloured blossom, 

 the whole of the future seeds were not white. Capt. 



i 



